Team India Departs for Australia Ahead of White-Ball Series
New Delhi: The Indian men’s cricket team departed for Australia from the national capital on Wednesday morning ahead of the highly anticipated white-ball series beginning later this week.
Batting icons Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma joined the squad in Delhi on Tuesday before the team’s departure. India will play three ODIs and five T20Is during the tour, with the first ODI scheduled for Sunday. The remaining two ODIs will be held on October 23 and 25, followed by the five-match T20I series from October 29 to November 8.
Among those spotted at Delhi airport were captain Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna. The first ODI in Perth’s Optus Stadium will mark the return of several senior players to international action for the first time since the Champions Trophy.
India’s unbeaten run in the Champions Trophy, capped by a memorable final where Rohit was named Player of the Match for his 76 off 83 balls, was the last outing for the veteran duo. Both players later announced their retirement from Test cricket, opting to focus on limited-overs formats. Following India’s T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados, Rohit and Virat transitioned into one-format specialists, with Rohit returning solely as a batter.
During the squad announcement, chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed that he had personally informed Rohit of the selectors’ decision to hand over the ODI captaincy to Shubman Gill, a move aimed at preparing for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
India’s ODI squad for Australia: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
